Don't give up on Steemit!
I haven't been posting for very long, but my husband and my sister have been on here for a year and I have watched them work their way up and reap benefits from their hard work. It has encouraged me to stick with it myself, because I acknowledge that you can't become successful at something overnight.
I have already made a lot of friends in the three weeks I have been posting, and I think that is amazing! Steemit really offers a great circuit of people who are working together to achieve the same things. It is so awesome for people to have an outlet for their creativity that they can profit from!
My favorite part about this platform so far is that anything goes. I am free to post about anything at all and, in doing so, I am meeting more people with similar likes and interests!
I know that there are things that you can complain about, but the thing about Steemit is that is is under development and it is constantly improving. It has so much potential!
So I am sending out my word of encouragement to anyone that is just starting out or is becoming discouraged -- don't give up!
Blessings!
Part of the problem is people thinking that because they have 500 followers, or 1000 followers or whatever, that it guarantees them upvotes and rewards. It doesn't
Especially when they gain their followers by following 3000 people and then bragging when 300 follow them back. You have to earn DEDICATED followers by making QUALITY posts that people learn from, are entertained by, or that evoke feelings.
There is no shortcut. It takes hard work and consistency. Stop begging for followers. Stop following thousands to get hundreds that don't care about your posts. Put WORK into your posts like @uglysweater and @gringalicious and so many others do.
It's not a get rich quick scheme. Work at it and do it right.
Exactly.
Work on your content, you'll eventually succeed.
I have enjoyed @gringalicious posts since a year, she have been putting so much efforts in her posts day in and out, I am fan of her. And it feel so great to see @uglysweater growing exponentially.
Keep going guys.
We all gonna make this place the most amazing one and I feel so proud to be part of this community since very start.
That's what I decided after seeing many of posts unrewarded. I didn't stop posting and now I have an organic following and some amazing friends here from around the globe.
I am also incredibly happy that I have completed my first month on Steemit! and I have shared my experience in unique numbers.
I don't know. I don't follow for follow. I don't beg upvotes. I do comment on quite a few posts a day in the topics that interest me. I think out of my 200 (ish) followers I have 10 "good" followers that actually routinely read my blog. Honestly, I'd rather have 10 followers that read my blog than 1000 followers who don't care what I have to say.
I put quite a bit of effort into my blog. I take more than 50% of my own pictures, I share knowledge that I have spent years acquiring, I write on topics that I have passion for, and I help other people find a path to success.
Part of my problem growing on Steemit is that I attract the minnows. Mostly because I like to help people. I'll occasionally get a $5 or $10 comment payout because I said something about cryptocurrency, but that's not so much my thing (it's a side hobby that I happen to have some knowledge in).
It also isn't that I (or many other minnows) lack upvotes. We get upvotes, anywhere from 5 to 20, on many of our posts. Unfortunately, the upvotes we get are from other minnows. When a person is friends with a whale or invited by a whale, they get a HUGE advantage! Immediately they get a $5 or more upvote pushing them into trending and burying all the minnows (regardless of post quality) deep into the abyss of the "new" thread.
Reading this makes me sad. It's been the story of my blog too (except for a few posts which did reasonably well). I attract minnnows quite a lot because I solve their problems and teach them and guide them.
I have followed you without even looking at your blog (which I know I have to). My request to you would be to keep blogging despite no votes or a pile of tiny votes. The following and the credibility you now build will help you greatly in the longer run. I have posted 60 times in my first month here and I will keep posting regularly. Let's keep our heads down and our focus on our work. Results will come!
I wasn't referring to you specifically @timeshiftarts. I just meant that it seems to be a common tactic lately. I've seen so many posts bragging about reaching 500 followers and then I look at their profile and they are following 3000. It's not going to help in any way to do that.
I totally get it. I try to encourage people against those tactics too. (Sometimes my anxiety gets the better of me and I unintentionally personalize things and think later)
I try to tell people they should keep their following list to about 200 (give or take) because after that you might as well just be reading "new" for as much as you're gonna see what interests you.
I couldn't say it better!
Thanks for your comment on this. I'm fairly new here and have just been commenting and getting the feel for how things work before writing a full post.
I agree that genuine writing is the best way to make Steemit work for you. I'll be trying my hand at writing posts soon and we'll see how they do.
Roger dat
Absolutely agreed. Number of followers or just about anything is futile if the quality of effort is lacking. I have 527 followers and I haven't asked them to follow me. My posts and comments changed their mind.
I am also incredibly happy that I have completed my first month on Steemit! and I have shared my experience in unique numbers.
Well Said :)
It looks like you're already doing an amazing job to be honest! It does take hard work, and you've already surpassed me! You're also right that there are things we could all complain about but I would rather try to find the cause of the problem and fix it because I do feel like the problem, even here, is with ourselves and not SteemIt a lot of the time.
Issues here will changed and get fixed and new ones will arise.
Thank you! I am trying!
Yes, there's always going to be something to complain about. But focusing on the positive is very helpful versus focusing on the negative!
I am trying to heed your advice, but it is very difficult.
It is disheartening to watch as my follower base steadily grows and my payouts of $0.16 with 10 upvotes look nothing like the payouts of "whales" at $23 with 3 upvotes.
HF19 was branded "equality" but it still takes 250 "minnows" votes (which many have been trained to conserve to 10 a day) to equal ONE SINGLE 2% "whale" vote (which is often only given to people the whale has been following for months, or worse is "auto upvoted" based on bloggers that traditionally get high curation rewards).
Auto-curating is killing Steemit and really killing minnows. The votes cast based on "best ROI" mean that @jerrybanfield could literally post the alphabet one letter at a time and make $26,000 while minnows who spend time to go out and make something unique might make $1 if they have 1000 "quality" followers.
I'm not sure what can be done to fix it ... but Steemit seems to be steadily progressing toward a land of 20 whales and 25,000,000,000 voter bots.
I feel the same - only frustration after 3 weeks here, 500 followers for 3 weeks and literally 16 hours every day working here
I'm feeling a lot like you do, right now. I'm going to push forward, but I'm not seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
Do you think there is any way bots can be eliminated from the platform? They don't seem particularly helpful to building community.
The only way I can think of is to require a captcha for upvotes. This won't kill all the bots but it will require them to have a higher level of sophistication.
The other thing we should discourage is "pay for vote". As much value as there is in @randowhale for helping out the minnows, it is far too easily abused. With enough SBD or Steem, you could pay for upvote all your posts and then use the momentum to attract vote bots further degrading the overall quality of Steemit.
Here's an interesting discussion on that very topic: https://steemit.com/steemit/@walkingkeys/hey-steemit-is-using-randowhale-cheating-or-smart
I would definitely like to see this platform return to (as I understand it was initially) being a more organic community -- just people connecting and posting interesting stuff, rather than trying to find hacks and loopholes to make as much money as possible doing as little work as possible.
It can be frustrating! But the problems are not going unnoticed. The HF proved that. It was meant as an improvement. I know that technically we now need improvements to the improvement, but that's what is great about this platform -- it's a work in progress!
It is a fantastic advantage of this platform. As an opensource community owned project it has the opportunity to grow and change with the community. I, for one, will continue blogging what I love (because I love it)!
Hopefully I will also be noticed by a "big fish" or two :)
Great post. Resteemed ;)
I also really like the interactions I've had with people, but it can be hard to stay motivated. Thanks for helping others to keep their spirits high :)
Thank you! 😊
its so right.
Don't give up.
Just keep swimming. 😀
awesome...really motivated posting..I really inspired..thanks for motivation..hopefully we succes on steemit..Bravoo
I am glad you are inspired!
Yes, I wish you success!
thank you so much..
Thank you for the encouraging words in the post. I've been on Steemit for just about a week now and I've had a blast to date! I can only follow up your thoughts by reiterating that it will take time. Everything takes time. I'm hoping to mainly have fun here and interacting with the community. Thanks again for the post!
I'm glad I could be encouraging!
It is going to take time, but everything worth working at does take time! I, like you, want to focus is the fun. 😀
Ditto hun... I am here for my third week (I think). And I am not at your level. But I have faith that integrity and contribution will prevail... I love it here :)
Upvoted...and followed
Thank you! 😊
Come see what I have done @yoda1917
Was there a downturn over the weekend on Steem?
I don't think so specifically, I have just felt a lot of discouragment from the frustrations after the recent HF and wanted to remind everyone to keep with it!
HF? sorry, i'm new and don't know all of this terminology haha
HF stands for hard fork, which is an update to the blockchain. HF 19 was a few weeks ago and I believe it was designed to level out the votes a little so minnow votes are worth a little more. I'm fairly new as well, so anyone can correct me if there's a better explanation.
In my experience so far, minnow votes aren't worth very much still.
True, but every little bit helps.
Very true. :)
Great post, my dear! I think this encouragement is going to help a lot of Steemers!!!😃 😄 😁
I hope so! This pool needs all of us little swimmers, too, right? 😊